Methods and systems for efficient delivery of accounting and corporate planning services

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for providing accounting services and corporate strategic planning services that comprise processing and aggregating financial transaction data and a plurality of input variables for maintaining a subscriber&#39;s general ledger, outputting audit ready financial reports, providing strategic planning inputs and by using at least one of semi-automated and machine learning algorithms are disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims the benefit of and priority toU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/525,200, filed Jun. 27, 2017, andentitled “Methods and Systems for Automated Bookkeeping and FinancialServices,” and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/670,873, filed May14, 2018, and entitled “Methods and Systems for Efficient Delivery ofAccounting and Corporate Planning Services,” the entire disclosures ofwhich are both hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

FIELD

The present invention relates to methods and systems for providingaccounting services and corporate strategic planning services using atleast one of semi-automated and machine learning algorithms.

BACKGROUND

Most startup companies and small to medium sized business enterprises(SME) struggle with financial accounting, and in particular, find itdifficult to retain affordable and high-quality bookkeeping andfinancial management services. Most entrepreneurs resort to the “do ityourself” approach to their company's accounting. Accounting softwareproviders (“ASP”), such as QuickBooks and Xero, provide local orcloud-based software which require the user to manually input theircompany's expenses, prepare invoicing, manage accounts receivable (A/R),manage employee payroll, track payments to vendors and manage accountspayable (A/P). Because the entrepreneur often has little or no formaltraining in accounting, expenses and or payments may be misallocated andnot treated appropriately for tax purposes, financial planning andcorporate strategy purposes. Managing employees, state and local taxes,investment transactions, and capital purchases are particularlyproblematic for most startups and many SME's. Frequent reviews by anexperienced bookkeeper or certified public accountant is often needed,but not always available. A method of delivering accounting servicesthat is both efficient, audit ready, and inexpensive is needed.

U.S. Pat. No. 9,117,208 (assigned to Xero Ltd.) describes an onlineaccounting software that enables small business customers with theability to manage their accounts within a cloud. Users are able toaccess a secure online website, review, and update their data. Customerscan invite trusted advisors e.g., accountants, bookkeepers, their bankmanager, and/or their business partner into their accounts. Disclosedare example systems and methods by which a financial institution thatholds a business's financial data can share this financial data with anaccounting software system (e.g., a hosted online accounting softwaresolution) for the benefit of their customers, via automatedprovisioning. The system may include an accounting and payroll module, acommunity module, a billing/subscription management module, anotifications center module, a user profile management module, and ananalytics module. An accountant may create and generate standardizedsets of reports such as profit and loss statement and quarterly reports.The accounting and payroll module may access banking data for eachclient business. The banking data may be imported either through a bankfeed or a user or accountant created document. The accounting andpayroll module may also communicate with third-party tools via anapplication programming interface (“API”).

U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/259748 (assigned to Microsoft, Inc.) describes amobile phone application to capture key expense information and/orassociated receipts for expense reporting purposes. The expenseinformation and/or receipts may then be sent to the employee's companyexpense management application, which may be part of a ERP (“EnterpriseResource Planning”) service, through a mobile phone data connection. Thereceipts and information may be available when the employee completeshis or her expense report. This helps the employee to easily capture theinformation on the go without needing to keep track of paper receipts oramounts paid in cash. The application provides an integrated andautomated user experience, integration with a mobile device's camera orattached scanner module to capture a receipt, local storage of expenseinformation and receipts at an offline data store, ability to send theexpense information and receipts to a cloud-based ERP service using adefined interface, and authentication and/or identity protectionservices.

U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2015/026021 describes a reporting system and methodfor collecting and processing of transactional and financial data andnon-transactional data to provide an effective tool for overseeing theon-going operations of an enterprise and for integrating cash sheetmanagement with an accounting and payroll system in a cloud-basedcomputing network. The system receives data, processes data,communicates data, and/or provide reports in real-time. It also providesan option for inputting purchases/expenses occurring at the point ofsale into the cloud-based system along with a copy of invoices/receipts,which may then be automatically posted within an accounts component ormodule.

Crunchbase, Inc. (Brandenburg, Germany) reports that a system calledSMACC uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology toextract relevant data from a customer's scanned invoices and receiptsand to do bookkeeping automatically. Financial documents are digitized,automatically organized, and securely archived in data centers.Customers can access their documents from any device using their accountcredentials and may grant access to accountants, business partners, andemployees. The system purports to recognize multiple data pointsincluding, payment terms, tax information, address data, anddescriptions and amounts of products and services invoiced on bills andreceipts. The information is reported to be used to automatically startfinancial workflows including bill approvals, digital payments, andfinancial controlling. Based on the recognized invoice or collecteddocument information, the software system can purportedly allocatefinancial accounts, cost centers, and project centers to every item onyour bill. The system learns from inputs provided by accountants andfinancial accountants to ensure highest quality and accuracy. The systempurports to provides for transparency and access to real-time financialdata. Automated data processing provides daily insights a customer'sbusiness's financial performance. The system generates real-time reportsof revenues, expenses and operational profitability. All data isdirectly linked to the corresponding invoices, receipts and paymenttransactions. All financial supplier and customer data is automaticallyaggregated and made available in a mobile application software (“app”).

SmartVault Corp. provides an accounting documentation software thatfacilitates the storage of source documents across many onlineapplications. SmartVault is primarily used by accountants who use ASPsoftware such as Quickbooks, Xero, and Freshbooks. The software may alsobe used by business entities that need document management capabilities.ApprovalMax is a multi-layered accounting approval solution. It is moreapplicable to organizations in which multiple and often different layersof approval are required for transactions of different sizes and types.These products and many others offered by financial technology companiesaddress one aspect or another from the ensemble of financial activitiesthat are normally associated with the provision of accounting services,and often replace older, slower, and more manual processes with a moremodern digital service. Systems and methods that comprise auser-friendly app, one or more dedicated accountants, and a robustprocess that allows for audit ready accounting of a wide range oftransactions are required.

The systems and methods described herein allow subscribers to enterfinancial transactions along with supporting documentation insubstantially real-time relative to the occurrence of a business eventor expense. The app is preferably linked to an ASP software such asQuickBooks via an API. In addition, provided is an e-mail processingfeature that allows subscribers to forward e-mail receipts and invoicesto an audit ready accounting service provider (“ARASP”), which are thenrecorded and documented by accountants. Audit-ready financial data maythen be aggregated with sales, R&D roadmap, product roadmap, market dataand may be used to assist with the subscriber's corporate strategicplanning initiatives.

In this disclosure, “real-time” generally means “the actual time duringwhich a process or event occurs or virtually immediately as a process orevent occurs.” Further, “audit readiness” links business activities toaccounting transactions and ensures that the accounting transactions areproperly reported in the financial records with required supportingdocumentation. Audit readiness improves the quality of financialinformation, leading to better data for decision-making.

BRIEF DISCLOSURE

In one disclosed aspect, a method for providing accounting services byan accounting service provider to a subscriber may comprise the steps ofproviding a first accounting application software configured tocommunicate with a first database for storing transactional data,providing a second accounting application software configured tocommunicate with a second database for storing transactional data,setting up a subscriber corporate profile account using the firstaccounting software and the second accounting software, wherein thecorporate account comprises a plurality of authorized user accounts,inputting transactional data to at least one of a user account andcorporate account using at least one of the first accounting softwareand second accounting software after assigning and accounting coderelated to the transaction, processing data using at least one ofmonthly processing and daily processing steps, synchronizing the firstand second databases at predetermined intervals using an API provided bythe first software for bidirectional secure communication between thedatabases, generating requests for authorization related to at least oneof an authorized user transaction and corporate transaction using thefirst accounting software wherein requests authorized by a supervisorare added to the second database and requests not authorized are routedback for corrective coding, and recording transactional data in ageneral ledger of the subscriber stored in the first database by thefirst accounting software. The first software may comprise a mobileapplication program configured to run on a smart device assigned to auser. User access to the first software using a smart device may besecured by an alphanumeric passcode. User access to the first softwareusing a smart device may be secured by push authentication. The secondaccounting software may comprise of at least one of QuickBooks Online,Freshbooks, and Xero.

Transactional data may comprise at least one of invoices attached toe-mails related to corporate expenses and received into a subscribercorporate e-mail account, receipts related to user expenses and receivedinto a user e-mail account associated with a subscriber account, expenseinformation captured by a user using a camera of a smart device toprovide a digitized source document, transactional information generatedby each user associated with a subscriber and transmitted by at leastone of credit/debit card magstripe readers and point of sale contactlessreaders in the form of at least one of an e-mail directed to a usere-mail account and directly to a subscriber's credit card account orbank account, Credit/debit card statements associated with each usercredit card associated with a subscriber, and, bank statementsassociated with each subscriber account. The inputting step may compriseinputting data received in the form of e-mails by a bookkeeper retainedby the service provider into the second software. The inputting step maycomprise inputting data received in the form of e-mails by an accountantretained by the service provider into the second software. The inputtingstep may comprise inputting data received in the form a digitized sourcedocument by a user into the first software. The inputting step maycomprise inputting data received in the form at least one of a digitizedsource document and e-mails by machine learning algorithms incorporatedin the first software.

The monthly processing step may comprise at least one of reconcilingsubscriber bank account and producing a bank account reconciliationreport, reconciling subscriber credit card account and producing creditcard account reconciliation report, synchronizing first and seconddatabases, preparing monthly reports comprising at least of P&Lstatement and cash flow statements, messaging subscriber that reportsare completed and providing a link to said reports; and, preparingmonthly tax payment statements.

The daily processing step may comprise at least one of uploading onlinetransactions from at least one of subscriber's bank account and creditcard account, entering invoices from e-mails, reviewing any transactionsinput using the first software and adding any exceptions in a report tothe supervisor, matching at least one of bank account and credit cardaccount transactions with the subscriber information in the seconddatabase, recoding account number for invoiced expenses received from atleast one of subscriber bank account and credit card account, sending atleast one of bank account and credit card account reports to asupervisor, entering customer payments received, preparing anddistributing any invoices, and conducting supervisor tasks which mayfurther at least one of responding to any messenger requests, sendingmessages to subscriber requesting documentation for one or moretransactions identified in supervisor reports, approving reimbursements,sending approval messages for outgoing payments, and paying any invoicesand credit card bills due. The first database may be a SQL database.

In another aspect, the method for providing accounting services maycomprise an accounting master database for aggregating data from firstand second databases and third-party databases. The third-party databasemay comprise at least one of subscriber's sales management database,patent portfolio management database, and Dun & Bradstreet database. Themethod of claim 15 further comprising the step of datamining theaggregated data to identify patterns related to at least one ofsubscriber's revenue growth, revenue targets, marketing strategies,internal management processes, and cost profiles. The method may utilizemachine learning algorithms to predict and optimize at least one ofsubscriber's product development roadmaps, innovation roadmaps, costcontrol options, revenue forecasts, sales forecasts, sales strategy,pricing strategy, project execution, general accounting compliance,general accounting fraud assessment, tax strategies, and fiduciaryobligation of stakeholders and officers.

In another aspect, a system for providing accounting service by anaccounting service provider to a subscriber may comprise a first SQLdatabase for storing transactional data and configured to communicatewith a first accounting software, and a second SQL database for storingtransactional data and configured to communicate with a secondaccounting software, wherein, the first software and second software areconfigured to setup the subscriber corporate profile account wherein thecorporate account comprises a plurality of authorized user accounts, atleast one of the first accounting software and second accountingsoftware is configured to receive transactional data inputs into atleast of a user account and subscriber corporate account, at least oneof the first accounting software and second accounting software isconfigured to process data using at least one of monthly processing anddaily processing steps, the first and second databases are synchronizedat predetermined intervals using an API provided by the first softwareto provide bidirectional secure communication between the databases and,the first software records transactional data in a general ledger of thesubscriber stored in the first database. Transactional data may be inputin part by a bookkeeper retained by the service provider. The firstsoftware may be hosted in a smart device as a mobile applicationprogram. Transactional data may be input in part by a user using themobile application program.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be setforth, in part, in the descriptions which follow and the accompanyingdrawings, wherein the preferred aspects of the present disclosure aredescribed and shown, and in part, will become apparent to those skilledin the art upon examination of the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings or may be learned bypractice of the present disclosure. The advantages of the presentdisclosure may be realized and attained by means of theinstrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in theappendant claims.

DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisdisclosure will become more readily appreciated as the same becomesbetter understood by reference to the following detailed description,when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1. Schematic flow diagram showing an exemplary method for providingaudit-ready accounting services.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D depict a front view of the home screen (orsplash screen) of an exemplary app on a mobile device, front view of amenu screen of an exemplary app on a mobile device related to creditcard transactions, front view of a menu screen of an exemplary app on amobile device related to a bill, and front view of menu screen of anexemplary app on a mobile device related to message threads between theuser and the one or more databases linked to the app or between the userand an accountant, respectively.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C depict a schematic diagram showing an exemplarytask list related to onboarding a new subscriber and users associatedwith subscriber, schematic diagram showing an exemplary task listrelated to daily processing of financial transaction related to a user,and schematic diagram showing an exemplary task list related to monthlyprocessing of financial transactions, respectively.

FIG. 4. Schematic flow diagram showing an exemplary method for providingoutputs that relate to corporate strategy using a plurality of inputsincluding accounting data.

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict a schematic drawing showing a machine learningwork flow related to current profitability of a subscriber, and aschematic drawing showing a machine learning work flow related to futureprofitability of a subscriber, respectively.

FIG. 6. Schematic drawing showing an exemplary method for providingaudit-ready accounting services and “special needs” services.

All reference numerals, designators and callouts in the figures arehereby incorporated by this reference as if fully set forth herein. Thefailure to number an element in a figure is not intended to waive anyrights. Unnumbered references may also be identified by alpha charactersin the figures and appendices.

The following detailed description includes references to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description.The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in whichthe pilot assembly and methods may be practiced. These embodiments,which are to be understood as “examples” or “options,” are described inenough detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the presentinvention. The embodiments may be combined, other embodiments may beutilized or structural or logical changes may be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is,therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of theinvention is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used to include one or morethan one, and the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive “or”unless otherwise indicated. In addition, it is to be understood that thephraseology or terminology employed herein, and not otherwise defined,is for the purpose of description only and not of limitation. Forconstruing the scope of the term “about,” the error bounds associatedwith the values (dimensions, operating conditions etc.) disclosed is±10% of the values indicated in this disclosure. The word“substantially” used before a specific word includes the meanings“considerable in extent to that which is specified,” and “largely butnot wholly that which is specified.”

DETAILED DISCLOSURE

Particular aspects of the invention are described below in considerabledetail for the purpose for illustrating its principles and operation.However, various modifications may be made, and the scope of theinvention is not limited to the exemplary aspects described.

A mobile application software or “app” is a computer program configuredto run on a mobile device such as a smart phone, tablet or watch. An appcomprises a front-end component or user interface (“UI”) and is designedto provide the user with an easy-to-use and friendly interface. Thefront end communicates with a back-end component which facilitates datarouting, security, authentication, authorization, working off-line, andservice orchestration. An app may also communicate with one or moreintermediate or middle components including, but not limited to, mobileapp servers, message queuing, enterprise service bus (“ESB”) and otherservice-oriented architecture (“SOA”) infrastructure components. Datasynchronization between the mobile device and a database or cloud andoffline (without internet connection) capabilities are key to theseamless functioning of successful mobile apps. Providers of databaseand cloud services such as Couchbase Mobile (Couchbase), Azure MobileServices (Microsoft), Cognito (Amazon), Firebase (Google) offersynchronization and offline capabilities with their mobile offerings.The app should preferably provide for secure data access communicationwith synchronized and decentralized storage, transmission and storageusing features such as address authentication, data at rest, whichrelates to whether the app supports file system encryption anddata-level encryption, data in motion, and read/write access thatdefines what data may be accessed and changed/modified by users.Databases may be relational (SQL databases such as Oracle, mySQL) orNoSQL (e.g. MongoDB, CouchDB). Further, for decentralized data writes onmobile platforms, the same data can be simultaneously modified onmultiple devices and may create a conflict between data access frommultiple devices. The app should preferably incorporate a mechanism forresolving those conflicts. The conflict resolution mechanism may allowresolution automatically, on the device, in the cloud, or could bemanually initiated.

Disclosed is an app provided by an audit ready accounting serviceprovider (“ARASP”) that interfaces with an accounting software providedby an accounting service provider that include, but are not limited to,QuickBooks Online and Xero. via an application-programming interface(“API”). The API is a set of programming instructions and standards foraccessing a Web-based software application or Web tool. For example, theQuickBooks Online API is a RESTful API that accesses QuickBooks Onlineusing standard HTTP GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE methods and a simple JSONinput and output format. The QuickBooks Online API performs a variety ofaccounting tasks including, but not limited to, manage customer andvendor databases, manage sales-side transactions (invoice, salesreceipt, etc.) and purchase-side (bill, expense, etc.) transactions,retrieve QuickBooks Online reports, track sales and purchase taxes.

In an exemplary accounting method 100 provided by an ARASP (FIG. 1), themethod comprises setting up a subscriber corporate profile account usingan app in step 101. A corporate profile may comprise a corporatesubscriber account and a predetermined number of user accountsassociated with the subscriber account. Information required to set-upan account include company name and address identification (ID), numberof authorized users associated with the subscriber, user ID, user loginID, user password and the like. A screenshot of the front-end (UI) of anexemplary accounting app is shown in FIG. 2A. Client profile informationmay be stored in database 160. The app is configured to receive userinputs, including but not limited to, entries related to bills andcredit/debit card purchases, raise invoices, make bank deposits and thelike. Oversight functionalities such as authorization by a line manager,and/or a corporate officer depending on the amount associated with thetransactions and pursuant to a subscriber's authorization protocol mayalso be provided by the app. Further, a user may request assistancethrough the app from an accountant provided by the accounting serviceprovider to manage transactional inputs.

FIG. 3A provides an exemplary list of data that may be required from asubscriber during onboarding (start-up) of a subscriber account. As canbe seen, the subscriber entity may be a corporation, limited liabilitycompany, partnership and the like. For start-up companies, informationrelated to founding members and a capitalization table may also berequired from a subscriber. Authorize users associated with thesubscriber may also be authorized to login to the app using theircredential. Other information that may be needed, include, but is notlimited to, tax related registration numbers, financial accountsinformation, payroll set-up information, names of shareholders, members,and partners if a subscriber is a corporation, limited liabilitycompany, or partnership respectively. Vendor and subcontractorinformation may also be input into the app during onboarding.

For each account profile, the app is configured to implement the stepsof data capture and transfer, data processing, and generate processeddata output. Transactional data may comprise expenses and payment data.Transactional data may be entered by at least one of the followingsteps, namely, (1) by an authorized user into the UI of the app and (2)may be e-mailed to a subscriber's e-mail account hosted by the ARASP orotherwise forwarded to the ARASP, for example, by mail. Sources forexpense data may comprise at least one of invoices and itemized receiptsgenerated by a variety of transactions related to corporate expenses ofa subscriber account. Expense data may also be related to eachauthorized user of a subscriber and may include capital expenses made bythe user and other non-capital expenses such as insurance chargesrelated to medical, dental, disability, liability insurance and thelike, legal and professional fees, office expenses, travel expenses,meals and entertainment and the like. Data may be provided in thefollowing forms, that include, but is not limited to:

(a) invoices attached to e-mails related to corporate expenses (e.g.generated by vendors) and received into a subscriber corporate e-mailaccount (e.g. accounts-receivable@subscriber-finbox.com);

(b) receipts related to authorized user expenses and received into auser e-mail account associated with a subscriber account (e.g.user@subscriber-finbox.com);

(c) expense information input by an authorized user into a user accountassociated with a corporate account through the app provided by an ARASPto each subscriber. The app may be configured to accept and process acopy of a receipt captured by the user using a camera found in a smartdevice.

(d) transactional information generated by each user associated with asubscriber and transmitted by at least one of credit/debit cardmagstripe readers (e.g. Square readers) and point of sale contactlessreaders (e.g. near field communication payment technology, Bluetoothpayment technology, and the like) in the form of an e-mail to a usere-mail account (e.g. user@subscriber-finbox.com) or directly to asubscribers credit card account or bank account (e.g. checking account);

(e) Credit/debit card statements associated with each user credit cardassociated with a subscriber, and

(f) Bank statements associated with each subscriber account.

(A) Entering Transactional Data Through the App

When transactional data is input by the user using the app, the methodmay include the following steps:

(a) entering transactional data related to credit card purchasereceipts, invoices/bills and the like. FIGS. 2B and 2C;

(b) at least one of capturing a picture of an invoice or receipt andattaching a picture of the document that may be stored in the data filefolder of the user's smart phone in step 102; (c) submitting the enteredtransactional data through the app using the “Submit” button. FIGS. 2Band 2C;

(d) assigning an accounting code to the submission;

(e) storing transactional data in subscriber's folder in database 160;and,

(e) synchronizing subscriber's folder in database 160 with subscriber'sinformation in ASP's database 170 via the API that provides abidirectional communication and data transfer link between databases 160and 170. The app places a note “entered by client via app” in thetransaction and is reflected in the transaction found in thesubscriber's ASP account.

Since the transactional data was entered by an authorized user,authorization or approval from the user's line manager or pursuant to asubscriber's approval standard operating procedure may not be required.

The user may contact an accountant retained by the accounting serviceprovider in step 104 to provide assistance related to bookkeepingissues, answer questions related to categorizing expenses (e.g. whetheran expense is a capital expense or an operational expense) and assistwith data entry to ensure that all inputs are audit ready.

(B) Transactional Documents that Arrive into User's Dedicated e-MailAccount

When transactional data is provided by vendors or service providers inthe form of an e-mail, the method may include the following steps:

(a) setting-up an e-mail account for the subscriber hosted by the ARASP;

(b) Requesting vendors to forward e-mails of invoices and receipts tothe subscriber's e-mail account in step 103. Alternately, a user may,instead of entering transactional data into the app, choose to e-mail acopy of invoices, receipts and the like to user's ARASP e-mail account;

(c) Entering transaction into subscriber's ASP account and attachingreceipts to the transaction in step 109 by at least one of an accountantprovided by the ARASP, a bookkeeper provided by ARASP, and the user;

(d) assigning an accounting code to the transaction;

(e) synchronizing subscriber's folder in database 160 with subscriber'sinformation in ASP's database 170 via the API that provides abidirectional communication and data transfer link between databases 160and 170;

(f) sending a message comprising the transaction summary to the user viathe app for approval in step 105 and using the messaging feature in theapp, FIG. 2D; and

(g) providing one of approval of the transaction via the messagingfeature in the app (step 106), which is posted to the transaction in ASPdatabase 170, and rejection of the transaction (step 107), in which casean amended transaction code is added to the transaction in step 108,which is then posted to the transaction in the subscriber's account inthe ASP database 170.

Regarding entry of receipts (when payment already made with credit cardor check) in step 109, the accountant or bookkeeper or user may entertransactional data into the ASP platform (e.g. QuickBooks) expense tabshowing: account, vendor, amount, and then designates the source ofpayment (bank account or credit card). The person entering data may alsoattach a copy of e-mails and any supporting documents such as copies ofreceipts, bills, and subscriber invoices. The data entry person may thennote in the memo field for the transaction “entered from email by x,”where x is one of an accountant, bookkeeper, user.

For entry of invoices (payment not yet made with credit card or check)in step 109, the data entry person may enter transactional details intothe ASP software bills tab showing: account, vendor, amount and thendesignates the source of payment, such as a subscriber's bank account.The data entry person may also attach a copy of e-mail and anysupporting documents into the attachments field for the transaction. Thedata entry person may then note in the memo field for the transaction“entered from email by x,” where x is one of an accountant, bookkeeper,user.

Transactional documents forwarded by subscriber to ARASP, for example,by mail or courier may be processed using the same procedure outlined instep (B).

Subscriber information in database 160 may be used to generatesubscriber specific chart of accounts in step 110 and may be used, forexample, by an accountant associated with the ARASP to inform and guideaccount coding decisions and to review and suggest potential changes foraccount coding based on coding review for any account numbers entered byclient in step 102.

FIG. 3B provides an exemplary list of tasks that are conducted for eachsubscriber account on a daily basis. FIG. 3C provides an exemplary listof tasks that are conducted for each subscriber account on a monthlybasis.

In the above examples, a user associated with a subscriber account isable to monitor account status (liquidity, liabilities etc.) on asubstantially real-time basis. Further, some or about most of the tasksdescribed in the above examples may be automated.

Databases (or servers) 160 and 170 are synchronized at periodicintervals. A plurality of subscriber accounts, with each account uniqueto a subscriber of the ARASP may be stored in databases 160 and 170. Thedisclosed methods facilitate creation of audit ready accountingtransactions, which may comprise accounting coding information,documentation and client approval. The exemplary method described aboveprovides for accounting and bookkeeping characterized by fast andaccurate data entry, a streamlined process for greater efficiency,tracking of transactions and cash-flow across multiple documents, andreduces risk of human error and resulting financial issues and ensuresthat information is audit ready Any communication between client and theaccountant may be recorded in the Messaging feature of the app. FIG. 2D.All communications between the user and the accountant are stored in theMessaging feature of the app.

The data transferred from the app to database 160 may include tags, oradditional bits of information, related to the time, date and locationfrom where the data was sent, and the nature of the transaction (e.g. amarketing expense to be categorized as entertainment). The app may beable to analyze the transaction for security risks and fraud, providealerts (e.g. text messages) and take necessary action. The app may posta transaction to the client's ledger in substantially real time or atpredetermined intervals, and add the transaction to the approvedpayables list, or place the transaction on a list of transactions inqueue for secondary verification.

Security features may be built into the app. For example, techniques,protocols, and tools that enable the data to be encrypted, to enable thesystem to verify that the device used to transmit the data is actuallyowned by the user, to ping a user's device (e.g. text message, pushauthentication and the like) to check if the user's device is ready toreceive data or reports sent from the server to the user's device may beused. Alphanumeric password protection may also be used. Alternately,the app on the user's device may be capable of verifying and allowingany communication from database 160.

The first and second applications may communicate via Transport LayerSecurity (“TLS”) protocols for secure exchange of data over a networkand to preserve data integrity. TLS (e.g. TLS 1.2) ensures that aconnection to a targeted endpoint is the intended endpoint throughencryption and endpoint identity verification.

Subscriber data provided by accounting module 100 and stored in ARASPdatabase 160 may be utilized by the subscriber for value added dataanalysis and planning in addition to audit ready accounting. In anexemplary method 400, information from other databases 180 may beaggregated into a master database 190 (FIG. 4). An example of database180 is a subscriber's sales management database, for example,subscriber's CRM (“customer relationship management”) tools thatinclude, but are not limited to, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Freshsales,Insightly, and Zoho databases. A sales database allows a customer tomaintain in substantially real-time customer lists, monitor its salespipeline, current sales and sales targets, contacts, customercommunications, prioritize and focus sales and business developmentactivities, and develop and implement subscriber's sales strategy takinginto account subscriber's cash flow forecasts. Another example ofdatabase 180 is a subscriber's patent portfolio management database,which may be provided as a docket by subscriber's external patentcounsel, to manage and grow subscriber's patent strategy, and to alignpatent filing, prosecution and maintenance costs with patentmonetization startegies via product sales, enforcement, licensing,acquistions and the like. Outputs of tools such as Thomson Innovation,Anaqua, PatSnap that provide competetive analysis of a subscriber'spatent portfolio may also be aggregated to examine subscriber's SWOT(strength, weakness, opportunties, and threats) within subscriber'scompetitive space, and to indentify “white space” for subscriber's R&Dteam to exploit, and development of next generation innovtaive concepts,products, and offerings.

Data exchange and communication between the plurality of databases 180and master database 190 is managed through the app via for example, anAPI associated with databases 180. For example, the app may communicatewith a Salesforce database via REST and SOAP based APIs. The app mayalso be configured to pull commercial data, analytics and othercorporate information from subscriber's account at service providerssuch as Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.

Information stored in database 190 may be used by the app to generateindicators related to subscriber's current profitability and predictfuture profitability. The app is configured to perform data mining ofdata stored in database 190. Data mining may be generally defined as“the practice of examining large databases in order to generate newinformation.” Data mining may be used by subscribers to look forpatterns in large batches of data that may be used to improve theircorporate internal management processes, develop more effectivemarketing strategies, implement product development roadmaps that alignwith marketing strategies, and achieve sustained revenue growth as wellas increased sales and cost reduction. The app may utilize a pluralityof knowledge-based editors or learning algorithms (191 and 192) topredict and optimize outputs (193 and 194) such as product developmentroadmaps, innovation roadmaps, cost control options, revenue forecasts,sales forecasts, sales strategy, pricing strategy, project execution,general accounting compliance, general accounting fraud assessment, taxstrategies, fiduciary obligation of stakeholders and officers and otherbest practices to examine current profitability and predict futureprofitability of a subscriber. Machine learning algorithms forpredictive analysis include, but are not limited to, linear regression,logistic regression (go-to methods), linear discriminant analysis,classification and regression trees (decision trees), Naïve Bayes,K-Nearest Neighbors, and Learning Vector Quantization. The app mayutilize rules-based algorithms that examine a plurality of subscribertransactions and data in database 190 at predetermined intervals usingenvironmental sensors (or indicators) that include, but are not limited,to (a) financial indicators (e.g., market volatility, debt ratios,profitability, financial leverage, and the like); (b) market indicators(e.g. total available market, market penetration potential, customerpain points, repeat business percentage, ability to add new customers,and the like); (c) technology readiness in a product developmentroadmap, SWOT analysis, and the like; (d) customer response toquestionnaires, customer behavior studies, market disruptions, change incustomer preferences, and the like. Learning algorithms may utilizefully and partially observable data, deterministic and stochastic data,discrete and continuous data, benign and adversarial environmental data,and the like to output recommendations (e.g. future profitability) thatis statistically reliable.

Data inputs (input variables) to these learning algorithms may comprisedata mined from database 190. As shown in FIG. 5A, exemplaryenvironmental and internal indicators 501 may be processed by the app toextract a set of exemplary indicators 502, which may be furtherprocessed to identify exemplary decision points 503 that may comprise asubscriber's market attractiveness and competitive position, which maybe then used to estimated performance indicators such as currentprofitability of a subscriber (output variables). Since change isinevitable, the app may be used to help a subscriber predict changes andadapt to changes, and to maintain its continued future profitability. Asshown in FIG. 5B, current profitability and other performance indicators504 may be used to forecast indicators 505, which may then bemanipulated to yield summary indicators 506 that may be used to forecastsubscriber's future profitability. Learning routines may also be appliedusing accounting data stored in database 160 to predict accounting codesin step 111 that may be fed into step 109.

Although methods 100 and 400 describe storing input and output data in aplurality of databases, the functionalities of the databases may becombined into a single master database such as database 190. Further,the app may be modified to process the accounting functions of thesoftware provided by the ASP (e.g. QuickBooks), thereby eliminating theneed to link with an ASP software via an API.

The features and capabilities of databases 160 and 170 may be integratedinto a single database (or server). In this aspect, the ARASP softwaremay incorporate the features and capabilities of the ASP software thatare required for basic accounting services, in particular, for start-upcompanies and SMEs. Exemplary systems and methods described may providefor sequencing a plurality of bookkeeping events 600 (FIG. 6) atperiodic intervals, (e.g. once a month). Step 601 provides for enrollinga new user and/or subscriber. A subscriber may be able to select from asuite of services in addition to basic accounting services. For example,a subscriber may add-on one or more of services (“special needs”), whichinclude, but are not limited to:

(a) M&A and investment services that provides for keeping track of theuser's capitalization table, convertible loans and other investmentrelated functions;

(b) Intellectual property assets and expense management andcategorization;

(c) Stock option plans;

(d) Asset purchases and depreciation schedule;

(e) Employee hiring and termination, and

(f) Communication with the user's bank account.

A subscriber may also be able to upload (or migrate) its existing chartof accounts after creating a new account. Step 602 allows a subscriberto add customers, vendors, select the modes by which the subscriberwishes to make or receive payments (e.g. cash, check, wire transfer, ACHetc.). Pre-qualified vendors and customers may be able to receive ormake payments directly from/to the subscriber's account if they areprovided access to do so by the subscriber. The system may provideperiodic reminders to the subscribers related to tax payments and thelike. At periodic intervals, the subscriber's financial informationstored in the subscriber's account may be reconciled with thesubscriber's bank account.

Subscriber accounts may be renewable at predetermined intervals. Theintervals may include once a month once a year, once in two years andthe like. Security features may be built into the accounting software.For example, techniques, protocols, and tools that enable subscriberdata to be encrypted, to enable the system to verify that the hardwareand interface used to transmit the data is actually owned by thesubscriber, to ping a user's device (e.g. text message) to check if theuser's device is ready to receive data or reports sent from the serverto the user's device. Alternately, the “app” on the user's device may becapable of verifying and allowing any communication from the server. Thedata transferred from an authorized device to the server may includetags, or additional bits of information, related to the time, date andlocation from where the data was sent from, and the nature of thetransaction (e.g. a marketing expense to be categorized asentertainment). The accounting software may be able to analyze thetransaction for security risks and fraud, provide alerts (e.g. textmessages) and take necessary action. The accounting software may post atransaction to the client's ledger in real time or at predeterminedintervals, and add the transaction to the approved payables list, orplace the transaction on a list of transactions subject to a secondaryverification. Methods of performing a secondary verification includesending an SMS message or a message through the app to a user (or toanother member of a subscriber's team) and requesting the user to takesome specific action that will provide secondary validation.

Before an invoice is paid either electronically or by check, the servermay communicate with the user's bank account and verify that there aresufficient funds in the user's account to enable the transaction. Ifthere are insufficient funds, the server may first notify thesubscriber. A human bookkeeper provided by the ASP may assist the user(or the accounting software) with executing or verifying transactions.For example, if there are insufficient funds in a subscriber account topay a bill, or the subscriber has sufficient funds but has requested apayment that exceeds predetermined limits, a human bookkeeper maycontact the user to discuss the transaction.

At regular intervals, an approved payable list may be sent to a user'sbank for electronic payment of each A/P pending. Payments that are notable to be completed electronically may be routed to a paper checkoperation center. Paper checks may be prepared and mailed manually, oran automated check printing machine may be utilized, or a hybrid processmay be utilized whereby some of the steps are automated. If a subscriberwishes to terminate its account (step 603) the exemplary system mayprovide a copy of requested documentation or summary reports to thesubscriber and terminates the account. The information related to a useraccount may be archived for a pre-determined time, or as required bylaw.

Synchronizing (reconciling) the subscriber's account with its relevantbusiness bank accounts may not always work because expenses and orpayments may be misallocated and not treated appropriately for taxpurposes. In an exemplary aspect, data input, processing and reportingmay be automated. An automated accounting system may receive user input(receipts, invoices, payments etc.), match payment received withinvoices, process received input into appropriate categories withminimal or no user intervention, manage accounts, and output reportssuch as P&L statement, balance sheet, A/P summary, and A/R summary asneeded. Further, a subscriber's “special needs” as described above maybe integrated with accounting services. While using the app as the userinterface may be preferred, the interface between may be a website orweb portal provided by an ARASP and accessible using a user device.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b), to allowthe reader to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature andgist of the technical disclosure. It should not be used to interpret orlimit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Although the present disclosure has been described in connection withthe preferred form of practicing it, those of ordinary skill in the artwill understand that many modifications can be made thereto withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it isnot intended that the scope of the disclosure in any way be limited bythe above description.

It should also be understood that a variety of changes may be madewithout departing from the essence of the disclosure. Such changes arealso implicitly included in the description. They still fall within thescope of this disclosure. It should be understood that this disclosureis intended to yield a patent covering numerous aspects of thedisclosure both independently and as an overall system and in bothmethod and apparatus modes.

Further, each of the various elements of the disclosure and claims mayalso be achieved in a variety of manners. This disclosure should beunderstood to encompass each such variation, be it a variation of animplementation of any apparatus implementation, a method or processimplementation, or even merely a variation of any element of these.

Particularly, it should be understood that the words for each elementmay be expressed by equivalent apparatus terms or method terms—even ifonly the function or result is the same. Such equivalent, broader, oreven more generic terms should be considered to be encompassed in thedescription of each element or action. Such terms can be substitutedwhere desired to make explicit the implicitly broad coverage to whichthis disclosure is entitled. It should be understood that all actionsmay be expressed as a means for taking that action or as an elementwhich causes that action. Similarly, each physical element disclosedshould be understood to encompass a disclosure of the action which thatphysical element facilitates.

In addition, as to each term used it should be understood that unlessits utilization in this application is inconsistent with suchinterpretation, common dictionary definitions should be understood asincorporated for each term and all definitions, alternative terms, andsynonyms such as contained in at least one of a standard technicaldictionary recognized by artisans and the Random House Webster'sUnabridged Dictionary, latest edition are hereby incorporated byreference.

Further, the use of the transitional phrase “comprising” is used tomaintain the “open-end” claims herein, according to traditional claiminterpretation. Thus, unless the context requires otherwise, it shouldbe understood that variations such as “comprises” or “comprising,” areintended to imply the inclusion of a stated element or step or group ofelements or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element or step orgroup of elements or steps. Such terms should be interpreted in theirmost expansive forms so as to afford the applicant the broadest coveragelegally permissible.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing accounting services by anaccounting service provider to a subscriber, the method comprising:providing a first accounting application software configured tocommunicate with a first database for storing transactional data;providing a second accounting application software configured tocommunicate with a second database for storing transactional data;setting up a subscriber corporate profile account using the firstaccounting software and the second accounting software, wherein thecorporate account comprises a plurality of authorized user accounts;inputting transactional data to at least one of a user account andcorporate account using at least one of the first accounting softwareand second accounting software after assigning an accounting coderelated to the transactional data; processing data using at least one ofmonthly processing and daily processing steps; synchronizing the firstand second databases at predetermined intervals using an API provided bythe first software for bidirectional secure communication between thedatabases; generating requests for authorization related to at least oneof an authorized user transaction and corporate transaction using thefirst accounting software wherein requests authorized by a supervisorare added to the second database and requests not authorized are routedback for corrective coding; and, recording transactional data in ageneral ledger of the subscriber stored in the first database by thefirst accounting software.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the requestsfor authorization are sent in the form of a message generated by thefirst software to the supervisor.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein thefirst software comprises a mobile application program configured to runon a smart device assigned to a user.
 4. The method of claim 1 whereinuser access to the first software using a smart device is secured by analphanumeric passcode.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein user access tothe first software using a smart device is secured by pushauthentication.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and secondapplication software communicate securely using TLS protocol.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the second accounting software is acommercially available accounting software.
 8. The method of claim 1wherein the transactional data comprises at least one of: a. invoicesattached to e-mails related to corporate expenses and received into asubscriber corporate e-mail account; b. receipts related to userexpenses and received into a user e-mail account associated with asubscriber account; c. expense information captured by a user using acamera of a smart device to provide a digitized source document; d.transactional information generated by each user associated with asubscriber and transmitted by at least one of credit/debit cardmagstripe readers and point of sale contactless readers in the form ofat least one of an e-mail directed to a user e-mail account and directlyto a subscriber's credit card account or bank account; e. credit/debitcard statements associated with each user credit card associated with asubscriber; and, f. bank statements associated with each subscriberaccount.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the inputting step comprisesinputting data received in the form of e-mails by a bookkeeper retainedby the service provider into the second software.
 10. The method ofclaim 8 wherein the inputting step comprises inputting data received inthe form of e-mails by an accountant retained by the service providerinto the second software.
 11. The method of claim 8 wherein theinputting step comprises inputting data received in the form a digitizedsource document by a user into the first software.
 12. The method ofclaim 8 wherein the inputting step comprises inputting data received inthe form at least one of a digitized source document and e-mails bymachine learning algorithms incorporated in the first software.
 13. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the monthly processing step comprises at leastone of: a. reconciling subscriber bank account and producing a bankaccount reconciliation report; b. reconciling subscriber credit cardaccount and producing credit card account reconciliation report; c.synchronizing first and second databases; d. preparing monthly reportscomprising at least of P&L statement and cash flow statements; e.messaging subscriber that reports are completed and providing a link tosaid reports; and f. preparing monthly tax payment statements.
 14. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the daily processing step comprises at leastone of: a. uploading online transactions from at least one ofsubscriber's bank account and credit card account; b. entering invoicesfrom e-mails; c. reviewing any transactions input using the firstsoftware and adding any exceptions in a report to the supervisor; d.matching at least one of bank account and credit card accounttransactions with the subscriber information in the second database e.recoding account number for invoiced expenses received from at least oneof subscriber bank account and credit card account; f. sending at leastone of bank account and credit card account reports to a supervisor; g.entering customer payments received; h. preparing and distributing anyinvoices; and, i. conducting supervisor tasks comprising at least oneof: i. responding to any messenger requests; ii. sending messages tosubscriber requesting documentation for one or more transactionsidentified in supervisor reports; iii. approving reimbursements; iv.sending approval messages for outgoing payments; and v. paying anyinvoices and credit card bills due.
 15. The method of claim 1 whereinthe first database is a SQL database.
 16. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising a master database for aggregating data from first and seconddatabases and third-party databases.
 17. The method of claim 16 whereinthe third-party database comprises at least one of subscriber's salesmanagement database, patent portfolio management database, and acorporate information service providers database.
 18. The method ofclaim 16 further comprising the step of datamining the aggregated datato identify patterns related to at least one of subscriber's revenuegrowth, revenue targets, marketing strategies, internal managementprocesses, and cost profiles.
 19. The method of claim 18 furthercomprising utilizing machine learning algorithms to predict and optimizeat least one of subscriber's product development roadmaps, innovationroadmaps, cost control options, revenue forecasts, sales forecasts,sales strategy, pricing strategy, project execution, general accountingcompliance, general accounting fraud assessment, tax strategies, andfiduciary obligation of stakeholders and officers.
 20. A system forproviding accounting service by an accounting service provider to asubscriber, the system comprising: a first SQL database for storingtransactional data and configured to communicate with a first accountingsoftware; and a second SQL database for storing transactional data andconfigured to communicate with a second accounting software, wherein,the first application software and second application software areconfigured to setup the subscriber corporate profile account wherein thecorporate account comprises a plurality of authorized user accounts; atleast one of the first accounting software and second accountingsoftware is configured to receive transactional data inputs into atleast of a user account and subscriber corporate account at least one ofthe first accounting software and second accounting software isconfigured to process data using at least one of monthly processing anddaily processing steps; the first and second databases are synchronizedat predetermined intervals using an API provided by the first softwareto provide bidirectional secure communication between the databases;and, the first software records transactional data in a general ledgerof the subscriber stored in the first database.
 21. The system of claim20 wherein transactional data is input in part by a bookkeeper retainedby the service provider.
 22. The system of claim 20 wherein the firstsoftware is hosted in a smart device as a mobile application program.23. The system of claim 20 wherein transactional data is input in partby a user using the mobile application program.
 24. A method forproviding accounting services by an accounting service provider to asubscriber, the method comprising: providing an accounting applicationsoftware configured to communicate with a database for storingtransactional data; setting up a subscriber corporate profile accountusing the accounting application software wherein the corporate accountcomprises a plurality of authorized user accounts; inputtingtransactional data to at least one of a user account and corporateaccount using the accounting software after assigning an accounting coderelated to the transactional data; processing data using at least one ofmonthly processing and daily processing steps; generating requests forauthorization related to at least one of an authorized user transactionand corporate transaction using the accounting software wherein requestsauthorized by a supervisor are added to the database and requests notauthorized are routed back for corrective coding; and, recordingtransactional data in a general ledger of the subscriber stored in thedatabase by the accounting software.
 25. The method of claim 24 whereinthe processing step is automated using machine learning algorithms.